On the outside lie your thoughts, the words you speak, and the things you do. Those are the ways you dress yourself, your interface with the world.

On the inside lies a certain way of perceiving the world, and the emotions and feelings that flow out of that perception. Those are you yourself.

Real change can only come when that internal perception changes. But we are not masters over that place. We cannot command ourselves to perceive that which is beyond us, to feel differently than we feel, or to understand that which we cannot understand.

So here is a strategy that works: Just as we can wash our clothes and bathe our skin, so we can focus our thoughts, guide our words and clean up our act. Ignore, for the time being, that a messy storm rages within. Once scrubbed enough to let light pass through, eventually your inner self will awaken to that light.

This is what Moses told his people on their last day together: “The hidden things are up to G‑d. But the outer things are for us and our children forever, to do what needs to be done.”